Slide assembly for sliding doors



Feb. 2, 1965 LA VERN E. RUDOLPH 3,153,355

suns ASSEMBLY FOR sums DOORS Filed Jan. 9, 1961 LA VERN E. RUDOLPHINVENTOR.

BY 4 B. QM

United States Patent. Ofiice 3,168,355 Patented Feb. 2, 1965 3,168,355SLIDE ASSEMBLY FOR SLIDING DOORS La Vern E. Rudolph, 283 W. 16th St.,Holland, Mich. Filed Jan. 9, 1961, Ser. No. 81,491 3 Claims. (Cl. 308-3)This invention relates to the construction of equipment for mountingsliding doors. It is conventional practice to support a sliding doorpanel on a track or rail at the bottom. This guidway is normally engagedeither by a groove in the bottom of the door, or by a more elaborateassembly including rollers or fixed slides. At the upper portion of thedoor, it is also conventional practice to mount a spring-loadedretractable slide for engaging a rail or groove in the structure abovethe door. On the installation of the door, it is quite simple to depressthis retractable member sufficiently to move the door laterally intofinal position, which is accomapnied by the slide snapping into fullengagement with the rail or groove.

It is often desirable to remove the door for finishing operationssubsequent to fitting, or for any one of a number of reasons. Unlessspecial provision is made, it is very difficult to re-retract the slidemember unless undue clearance is provided between the top edge of thedoor and the surrounding fixed structure. It is the purpose of thisinvention to provide an assembly that can be retracted easily withoutspecial provision being made which would interfere with the appearanceof the entire door assembly. In one form of the invention, a retractableshoe is mounted in a housing provided with a hole in the side for accesswith a tool. The recess in the top edge of the sliding door in which thedevice is normally mounted is intersected with an opening appearingnormally on the inside face of the door, and in alignment with thehousing opening. The housing formation is such as to adapt itselfreadily to the shape of a recess resulting from the operation of aconventional router operation. A modified form of the invention uses asimilarly-shaped housing, but provides for the retraction of the devicethrough the insertion of a thin sheet of material between the door andthe surrounding fixed structure for working the sliding shoe intoretracted position. The several features of the invention will bediscussed in further detail through an analysis of the particularembodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawing. In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 presents a sectional elevation of the preferred form of theinvention.

FIGURE 2 presents an exploded view showing the components of the slidedevice shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 illustrates a modified form of the invention.

FIGURE 4 illustrates a further modification of the invention.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the sliding door panel is provided with a recess11 machined in the top edge, and which receives the housing 12 of theslide device. This housing has the parallel sides 13 and 14, and thesemicylindrical ends 15 and 16. The combination of the sides 13 and 14with the ends as continuation of these side surfaces lends itself to aperfect fit with the shape of the recess 11, which is the typical shapeformed by a conventional router bit.

The sides 13 and 14 are provided with central openings as shown at 17and 18,, and the inside face 19 of the door has an opening 20 machinedin it which is disposed directly opposite the opening 18. The housing 12has openings in both the faces 13 and 14 to remove the necessity forclose attention as to which way the device must be inserted in therecess 11.

A shoe 21 is slidably received in the housing 12, and has the projectingtongue 22. Shoulders are shown at 23 and 24 along the opposite sides ofthe tongue 22, and the shoe has a recess 25 on the opposite side fromthe tongue 22. The recess 25 is shaped to fit closely over the end ofthe coil spring 26, which urges the slide to a position in which thetongue 22 normally projects beyond the top surface 27 of the housing.The lower end of the spring 26 bears directly on the bottom of thehousing, in the modification shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, but may seatitself directly against the bottom of the recess 11 if the housing 12 isformed as a continuous extrusion without a bottom.

The fixed door structure indicated at 28 will be provided with a groove29 which will either partially or fully receive the tongue 22. In themodification shown in FIGURE 1, a shallow groove depth is indicated.This arrangement is preferred, since the reduced depth of cut for thegroove has a smaller tendency to cause distortion of the door structure28.

Whenever it becomes desirable to remove the door from its assembledposition, it is possible to insert a tool such as a nail, awl, or smallscrew driver through the openings 20 and 18 a suflicient distance toengage the spring 26. When this has been accomplished, a downwardmovement of the tool will bring the spring and the shoes 21 into theretracted position because of the effect of gravity on the shoe, andalso because of the firm grip between the upper end of the spring 26'and the recess 25. In the preferred form of the recess 25, a portion 31is formed to extend beyond the end of the spring 26 so that the tool canbe inserted at a position in which the greatest possible compression ofthe spring can be achieved.

FIGURE 3 illustrates a modified form of the invention in which a housing32 is utilized having essentially the same shape as that of the housing12. The cross-section of the shoe 33 is similar in that it includes theprojecting tongue 34 with shoulders as shown at 35. The shoe 33 isbiased toward projecting position by the action of the leaf spring 36secured in position preferably by a screw as indicated at 37, or by aprojection which may be left on the plastic material of which the slide33 would normally be made. This projection may be headed over in theform of a rivet after the spring 36 has been assembled to it.

The retraction of the slide 33 is different from that of themodification shown in FIGURES l and 2. The shoulders 35 and the tongue34 are in part defined by a surface indicated at 38 which preferablyintersects both of these portions. When formed in this way, a thin cardmay be inserted between the upper edge of the door and the fixedstructure surrounding the door and moved to the right (or the door movedto the left with respect to it) so that the edge of the card rides alongthe surface 38 and causes the progressive retraction of the unit to thepoint where the tongue 34 is no longer engaged. In cases where theshoulder 35 bears directly against the fixed structure, it

' is necessary that the surface 38 intersect not only the tongue butalso the shoulders. The plane indicated at 33 represents the machinedsurface of the fixed door structure, and the top edge 40 of the housing32 will normally be in alignment with the top edge of the sliding doorin which the device is mounted.

The modification shown in FIGURE 4 has an arrangement for retaining thesliding shoe when not engaged in a groove. The housing 41 has thein-turned flanges 42 and 43 conforming in curvature to the rounded outeredges on the shoulders 44 and 45, which prevent withdrawal of the slide46 after the device is assembled to the door 47. Prior to this, therelatively thin walls of the housing 41 permit enough lateral deflectionfor forcibly removing the slide. The lower end of the spring 48 islocated by the boss 49, in this modification.

The particular embodiments of the present invention which have beenillustrated and discussed herein are for illustrative purposes only andare not to be considered as a limitation upon the scope of the appendedclaims. In these claims, it is my intent to claim the entire inventiondisclosed herein, except as I am limited by the prior-art;

1. 'A retractable: door slide, compriisingr a: housing; a shoe slidablymounted in said housing, said shoe having a projecting tongue and ashoulder along at least one side thereof, said tongue/normallyprojecting from said housing, said tongueiand shoulder'being partiallydefined by a 'surfrace inclined to the plane of said' shoulder; andbiasing means urging said shoe to increased projection from saidhousing. c t t r 2. A retractable door slide, comprising: a housing, atleast one side o'flsaid housing having a centralmopening therein; ashoe, slidably mounted in said housing, said 7 shoe havinga projectingtongue and ashoulder alongat least'one side thereof, said tonguenormally projecting l 7 from said housing; and said. shoe having arecess on the 4 ing, said biasing means including a coiled compressionspring having one end thereof tightly received in said recess, saidspring being disposed opposite the central opening in the side of saidhousing. I

3. A retractable door slide, comprising: a housing, at least one. sideof said housing havinga central opening therein; a shoe slidably mountedin i said housing, said shoe having a projecting tongue, saidtonguenormally projecting from said housing; and biasing means urging saidshoe to increased projection from said housing, said biasing meansincluding .a coiled compression spring,

said spring being disposed'opposite the central opening in the side orsaid housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,121,573 Wetzel ,Dec. 15, 1914 W 2,144,782 Swanson Jan. 24, 19392,317,312 j Swanson Apr. 20, 1943 2,584,874 Haas .Q' Feb. 5, 19522,896,274 Chris July 28, 1959

2. A RETRACTABLE DOOR SLIDE, COMPRISING: A HOUSING, AT LEAST ONE SIDE OFSAID HOUSING HAVING A CENTRAL OPEING THEREIN; A SHOE SLIDABLY MOUNTED INSAID HOUSING, SAID SHOE HAVING A PROJECTING TONGUE AND A SHOULDER ALONGAT LEAST ONE SIDE THEREOF, SAID TONGUE NORMALLY PROJECTING FROM SAIDHOUSING, AND SAID SHOE HAVING A RECESS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE THEREOF FROMSAID TONGUE; AND BIASING MEANS URGING SAID SHOE TO INCREASED PROJECTIONFROM SAID HOUSING, SAID BIASING MEANS INCLUDING A COILED COMPRESSIONSPRING HAVING ONE END THEREOF TIGHTLY RECEIVED IN SAID RECESS, SAIDSPRING BEING DISPOSED OPPOSITE THE CENTRAL OPENING IN THE SIDE OF SAIDHOUSING.